Amherst School Information

Catherine Sanderson, Amherst School Committee member and Fort River parent, has posted a preliminary analysis of the various school-reorganization options that are currently on the table on her blog, "My School Committee Blog." The post about the school reorganization scenarios is here: http://is.gd/eO2y. Clare Bertrand, who is a Town Meeting member and is one of the Crocker Farm parents on the Amherst Elementary Schools Organization Working Group, has also posted a few entries on about this topic on her blog: "Clare's View Inside Amherst." Voice your concerns by emailing School Committee Members and our interim Superintendents. Here's a link to an article in today's Amherst Bulletin about the upcoming election to fill two School Committee openings: "Potential School Committee candidates emerge early."

Superintendent Search

School Committee Member Catherine Sanderson announced at the last Parent Council meeting that finalists for the job of school superintendent will be in town for interviews during the first two weeks of February. The finalists will visit the district and participate in building tours, meetings with administrators, staff, and students, and evening public forums. I will update this website with any more information as soon as I receive it. You may also want to periodically check this link to the Superintendent's website for more information.

Amherstopoly

The committee working on the Amherstopoly board game has already made a number of connections to Amherst businesses and is in the process of reserving spaces! Now we are looking for help from our school communities! 1. Look through this list below. If you have a personal connection to any of the businesses listed here please get in touch with one of us and we will give you the information you need to approach them about this wonderful and unique marketing opportunity! 2. If you know of a business that's not on this list let us know. We may have contacted them already, but we may need to add them to the list! Thank you, Liz Larson nateliz.larson@gmail.com Sue Cairn scairn@verizon.net Alan Nathanson Sharpe, Atty at Law / Albano & Szumowski, P.C. / All About Learning / Amherst Chinese / Amherst Coffee / Amherst Family Practice / Amherst Insurance / Amherst Martial Arts / Amherst Wine and Spirits / Applewood Retirement Community / Arigato Sushi / Attorney Julia Rueschemeyer / Avicenna Skin Care Studio / Bank of Western MA / Blair Cutting and Smith Insurance / Charlies Pub / Chez Albert / China Dynasty / CISA Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture / Clays Clothing Store / Crazy Noodles / Egan, Flanagan and Cohen, P. C. / Elements Hot Tub and Spa / Felicity Hardee/ Bulkley, Richardson, and Gelinas, LLP / Florence Savings Bank / Fresh Side / Greenfield Coop / Greenfield Savings / Hair by Harlow / Henion Bakery / J. Austin Antiques / Jonathan A. Abbott, Esq. / Knowles Flower Shop / La Veracruzana Mexican Restaurant / Laughing Dog Bike Shop / Law Office of Lawrence J. Farber / Law Offices of Gary D. Gruber / Lone Wolf Restaurant / Loose Goose Café / Mary G. Klaes- Attorney & Mediator / Matthieu J. Massengill, P.C. / Moan & Dove / Monkey Bar & Grill / Northampton Savings / Panda East Chinese Restaurant / Paradise of India / Pasta e Basta / Pearson Evaluation Systems / Peoples Bank / Pioneer Valley Driving School / Princeton Review Testing / Rafters / Robert E. Young, Attorney at Law / Shaolin Kung Fu of Amherst / Silverscape Designs / Souper Bowl / Stamell Stringed Instruments / Stanley Kaplan Testing / T.D. BankNorth / Teagno Construction / Teryaki House / Thai Corner / The Amherst Grocery Store / The Hangar / The Pub Restaurant / The Spoke / The Sub / Valley Medical Group / Yoga Center Amherst / Ziomek & Ziomek, Attorneys at Law / UMASS Five College Credit Union

Passive Fundraisers: An Update

Stop & Shop BonusBucks: The numbers for December are in and we have earned a further $292! We also now have 94 cards designated for Fort River, which is terrific. The total earned so far this year (in the first three months of the program) is $736. Last year at this time we only had 41 people signed up and had earned $510, so we are well positioned to easily top last year's total. Thanks to everyone who took the time to register their Stop & Shop cards. If you still haven't registered, it's not too late! If you register in January, all your purchases for the entire month will be counted toward Fort River's total. It's incredibly easy to sign up. All you need to do is GET UP RIGHT NOW, GRAB YOUR STOP & SHOP CARD, COME BACK TO YOUR COMPUTER and CLICK HERE: http://www.stopandshop.com/aplus. Then all you need to do is click on "Register Your Card." When you enter your Stop & Shop card number, you have to include 13 digits. Start with the small numbers to the left of the bar code, then the 10 digits under the bar code, then the digit to the right of the bar code. Fort River's school code is 05218. It will take two minutes! BIG Y Education Express. You can earn points for Fort River to acquire much needed equipment and supplies! If you have a Big Y Express Savings Club card, you can just visit the customer service desk to fill out a form that will link Fort River with your card (School ID # 5947). Or go to www.bigy.com/education and sign up from your computer! Then, whenever you use your card to purchase items designated with the “Education Express” logo, you’ll earn points for our school. TARGET Take Charge of Education. If you have a Target REDcard (credit card), you can designate Fort River to receive up to 1% of the value of your purchases on the card. Go to www.Target.com/tcoe to designate Fort River (School ID # 58645).

Parent Council Thanks December Volunteers

December was a busy month with lots going on for Fort River Parent Council. A great big THANK YOU to the many many parents and students who helped with several events: Book Fair: Our annual Book Fair was again a success with lots of happy and enthusiastic kids going home with books! Thanks to Diane Caraker and Sue Borden for organizing this event. Also many thanks for all those who helped in so many capacities: Libby Stanforth, Eileen Marasco, Jen Ditkoff, Jen Wellman, Carrie Turkot, Lynn Logan, Jan Kelly, Becky Michaels, Dorie Goldberg, Peter Wood, Kathy Niedzalski, Lynn Hayes, Desiree Bohl, and for setting up and breaking down, Diane & Becky Caracker, Scott Turner, Desiree Bohl, Hillside Pizza Fundraiser: Thanks again for all those who bought pizza & cookie dough, and helped us raise money for the Fort River Playground !! Thanks also to Pam Rietkerk for organizing this event and to Gloria McCann for helping with pizza delivery ! Gift Wrap Fundraiser: Thanks to all who participated in the Fall Gift Wrap fundraiser and kudos to Jen Wellman who single-handedly coordinated the event this year !

Upcoming Community Events

Please note that these events are not sponsored by Parent Council. Northampton Family Dance. Sunday, January 18, 3:00 - 5:00 PM at First Churches, 129 Main Street, Northampton. (Use Center Street entrance across from the Iron Horse.) Please come to the Family Dance! Come enjoy a variety of folk and contra dances geared to children and families. All dances are taught and all ages are welcome--no dance experience needed. A healthy snack is served at the break. Live music! Admission is $4 per person for ages 3 and up, $15 maximum per family. This is the third dance in our season of five dances, taking place on the third Sunday of the month from November through March. For more information, please call (413) 256-2613. A note from Parent Council. We will publish information about non-Parent Council sponsored events with the following conditions: 1. The event should be of interest to Fort River families.

2. The information should be sent to Ann McLaughlin at damclaughlin@comcast.net in the form of a short description. 3. Contact information (website or name, telephone and/or email address) must be included. We add new information to the blog every Friday during the school year. Please note that we do not accept announcements of items or services for sale (with the exceptions of children's classes/lessons). Inclusion in this section does not imply any guarantees or endorsements by Fort River Parent Council or Fort River School.

Daily Hampshire Gazette Article Published Jan. 2, 2009

Amherst school reorganization group plots its course By Scott Merzbach Published 01/02/2009 AMHERST - A group established to begin the process of possibly reorganizing the four elementary schools began its work this week with an understanding that its findings will lead to presentations to the School Committee and PTOs. School Committee Chairman Andy Churchill said Wednesday that Monday's study committee meeting, which included Interim Co-Superintendent Helen Vivian, all four principals, and several staff, parent and School Committee representatives, plotted a timeline for getting staff to begin crunching the financial numbers for what reorganizations might look like and listed objectives it wanted to achieve. "The goal of the group is to frame options that are clear and transparent," Churchill said. The committee formed as a way of exploring reorganizations to cut costs in the face of a projected $1.2 million elementary schools budget shortfall. Vivian has said she believes it is time to pursue one of several reorganization scenarios discussed in recent years. The idea of pairing the four elementary schools by splitting the higher and lower grades appeared to be the most viable plan. Vivian suggested Fort River might be paired with Crocker Farm and Mark's Meadow with Wildwood, a move that could save up to $400,000, because the number of classes could be reduced. Churchill said the study committee will be responsible for voting a budget this spring. The full committee will hold its next working meeting during the week of Jan. 12, but will not be looking for public input until later in the process, when it has solid financial numbers to compare and an understanding of how each reorganization would impact schoolchildren, parents, teachers and staff. The committee will also consider options that include not reorganizing the schools, closing Mark's Meadow and creating three kindergarten through fourth-grade schools and one intermediate school for fifth- and sixth-graders. Churchill and fellow School Committee member Catherine Sanderson, as well as school principals, teachers, parents and former Superintendent Jere Hochman served on a committee last year that weighed reorganization options. An executive summary of its report can be seen at www.arps.org/node/70 [1].